Iran Nuke Showdown

Transcript

Shepard Smith:
Well the United States now reports itís one of the top state
sponsors of terror and is determined to become a nuclear
power. Today, word from Iranís president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, that its atomic program is almost there, in his
words, translated. Now here in Studio B is Alireza
Jafarzadeh. He is Fox Newsí Foreign Affairs Analyst and
author of a brand new book: The Iran Threat: President
Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis. Is it here
Alireza?

Alireza Jafarzadeh: Well the crisis is here,
already. I think ever since Ahmadinejad took office as
the new president. Heís intent on getting the Iranian
regime its first nuclear bomb and also turns Iraq into
an Islamic republic and I think heís on schedule.

Shepard Smith:
For both things?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
For both things.

Shepard Smith:
Alright, I want to talk about the two of them and
popular resistance inside the country. But first, is
this a foregone conclusion? Is there a fait accompli
here? Are they stoppable?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
I think they are stoppable.

Shepard Smith:
How?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
But not the way...

Shepard Smith:
Well then how? Just by sitting down and talking?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Absolutely not.

Shepard Smith:
Direct contact?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
It doesnít work that way. Because the Ayatollahs have
already determined...

Shepard Smith:
They run the place anyway donít they?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
They run the place anyway, they want to get the bomb at
any cost. They feel that the international community is
not decisive enough. Therefore they can get away with
violating their own commitments with the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Shepard Smith:
You know what maybe we should do quickly? Letís back up
and explain what an Ayatollah is and does.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Well the Ayatollah has an agenda in Iran to suppress its
own population. But also, it has a global agenda to
establish a global Islamic republic elsewhere.

Shepard Smith:
All religious?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
All religious.

Shepard Smith:
Yet with oil in their palms.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
They have all the resources in their hands. They would
dominate the way of thinking of the population. They are
telling the Iranian population how to think, how to
dress, who to talk toÖ

Shepard Smith:
Is it like a religious mafia sort of controlling the
people?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
They are using religion to run their own mafia network.
It really, in reality, has no basis in the religion.
Islam is not a religion of violence and intolerance.

Shepard Smith:
And Ahmadinejad is what in relation to them? As
president he is what?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
He runs their operation.

Shepard Smith:
He runs the operation for the Ayatollahs.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
For the Ayatollahs. He is their president: he carries
out their operations, their messages, and he has been
groomed by the Ayatollahs. I went into his own history
in my book extensively how he was groomed by the
Ayatollahs, especially by the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards for many years before he became president. And he
believes in the establishment of a global Islamic rule:
that was his campaign message during the presidential
elections.

Shepard Smith:
Of course, and yet, when we look back just a few short
years, just before this crisis with Iraq, all you heard
from inside sources in Iran was this popular movement
against an Islamic regime and for power to the people.
And we heard so much about how they might be able to
rise up with a little help. Where are we now?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Well the problem is that the Iranian regime badly
suppressed the Iranian population. The Iranian
population got not support from the international
community.

Shepard Smith:
And I wonder why that is. We were busy with something
else kind of, maybe a war in Iraq.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Absolutely, in fact when the nuclear sites were revealed
by the Iranian opposition in August of 2002, instead of
focusing on the threat from Tehran, the whole world was
preoccupied with the coming crisis in Iraq. So the
Ayatollahs got away with that.

Shepard Smith:
Can that uprising of, by, and for the people, can it be
supported now to a degree to which it might be helpful
within the country and the region?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
I think it has to.

Shepard Smith:
How?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Because first of all there were some four thousand
anti-government demonstrations in the past one year.

Shepard Smith: Never hear about them.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Major upheavals in the southern province Khuzestan,
northwest of Iran Azerbaijan, the capital Teheran. The
younger generation of Iran are vehemently opposed to the
Iranian regime. There is an organized opposition both
inside Iran that is responsible for some of these
revelations, but also outside of Iran.

Shepard Smith:
Much like people may understand Cuba and the resistance
here in south Florida.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
I think itís much further than that.

Shepard Smith:
But that kind of thing.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Absolutely, but much more deep rooted. Tens of thousands
of members and supporters of this movement were executed
by the Iranian regime. Yet the State Department and the
International communities were silent about it...

Shepard Smith:
Why?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Because they thought that if they donít rock the boat
with the Ayatollahs...

Shepard Smith:
It will just fix itself?

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
It will fix itself or they can find a way of negotiating
with the Ayatollahs, that they would eventually be able
to change the behavior of the Iranian regime. They tried
it for eight years under Khatami, the previous
president. And they still havenít given up with this new
president, Ahmadinejad. And I think with the prospect of
a nuclear Iran, with what Iran is doing in Iraq, we
cannot afford not pursuing a whole new policy that will
be focused on empowering the Iranian opposition,
removing all restrictions from them, and letting them
settle their case with the Ayatollahs.

Shepard Smith:
A fascinating take on it all, the book, for those of you
interested in the Iran crisis man alive if youíre a
student of politics or international politics and all
the threats that come, this is one to pick up.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Comes in January, 2007.

Shepard Smith:
Itís called The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and
the Coming Nuclear Crisis. The crisis is upon us. The
book is here in January. Alireza, good to see you.

Alireza Jafarzadeh:
Thank you, great pleasure to be on your show. Shepard.

The Iran Threat: President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis by
Alireza Jafarzadeh